1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rapid thermal processing apparatus and method which carries out rapid thermal processing of a semiconductor substrate, and a method of manufacture of a semiconductor device which carries out rapid thermal processing of a semiconductor substrate using the rapid thermal processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one of the semiconductor manufacturing machines and equipment, the rapid thermal processing apparatus which performs rapid thermal processing of a semiconductor substrate (wafer) is known.
For example, the rapid thermal processing apparatus comprises the processing chamber, the substrate support part which is arranged in the processing chamber and supports the substrate, the lamp part which optically irradiates and heats the front surface of the substrate supported by the substrate support part, the reflector plate which is arranged on the back surface side of the substrate and reflects the radiation light from the substrate, the radiation light sensor which is arranged on the back surface side of the substrate and receives the radiation light from the substrate back surface subjected to multiple reflection between the substrate back surface and the reflector plate, the emissivity sensor which receives the radiation light from the substrate back surface directly, and the emissivity computing part which computes the emissivity (or reflectivity) of the back surface of the substrate based on the output of the radiation light sensor and the output of the emissivity sensor.
The substrate support part in this apparatus may be composed of the cylindrical member arranged above the reflector plate of the processing chamber, and the ring-like member arranged on the upper end of the cylindrical member.
In this rapid thermal processing apparatus, when the semiconductor substrate is supported by the ring-like member of the substrate support part, the optically closed space, which is surrounded by the reflector plate, the substrate support part and the semiconductor substrate, is formed on the back surface side of the semiconductor substrate for the purpose of temperature detection of the semiconductor substrate by the radiation light sensor.
When performing the rapid thermal processing of the semiconductor substrate with the above rapid thermal processing apparatus, the semiconductor substrate is supported by the substrate support part, and then the semiconductor substrate is heated by the heating lamps to a desired target temperature, while the temperature of the semiconductor substrate is monitored by the radiation light sensor.
As the conventional technique, U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,512 discloses the method of separating the emission light from the heating lamp and the radiation light from the semiconductor substrate based on the reflectivity (or emissivity) which is determined from the ratio of the lamp intensity to the reflected light by the substrate surface (reflected light) in which the reflected light is changed according to the intensity changes when the intensity of the heating lamps is changed periodically.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,336 discloses the rapid thermal processing apparatus and method of heating the substrate according to the predetermined heating sequence by means of a plurality of heating lamps which are arranged so that the respective irradiation regions overlap each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,472 discloses the method and apparatus of measuring substrate temperature in which the optically closed space, which is surrounded by the reflector plate, arranged at the uppermost part of the chamber to face the substrate back surface, the substrate support part and the substrate back surface, is formed on the back surface side of the substrate, in the state where the substrate is supported by the substrate support part. In the method and apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,472, the temperature of the substrate is measured by using the radiation light sensor which receives the radiation light from the back surface of the substrate provided in the optically closed space, and the irradiation intensity of the heating lamps is controlled based on the measured temperature so that the substrate is heated to the desired temperature.